In memory of our brother and son, Robert Bagnell,
who died moments after being tasered by police in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 23, 2004. Bob was the 7th Canadian to die and the 110th in North America.

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WELCOME to TRUTH ... not TASERS

With regard to the nine Taser related deaths in the United States in August, including the rather mysterious circumstances of Nicholas Koscielniak, 27, who died on Tuesday morning in Lancaster, NY, it is time for America to decide if it wants its law enforcement to continue using a lethal weapon as a compliance tool. If so, ‘unintended consequences’ will continue to occur.

In the wake of nearly 30 deaths proximal to Conducted Energy Weapons (CEWs) in Canada, a Public Commission Inquiry was called. In May 2010, after two years of testimony and deliberation, Commissioner Thomas Braidwood recommended elevating Tasers in the use-of-force continuum, from intermediate (like batons + pepper spray) to a position just below the firearm, only to be used in used in the rarest of situations. Since then Canada has not had a single death; yet on average, there are two citizens dying every week in the United States, where the weapons are still being used to obtain compliance from argumentative or uncooperative citizens.

The Braidwood Inquiry concluded these "police tools" are not as safe as first advertised when they were first introduced in 1999. Commissioner Braidwood determined CEWs CAN kill, something even the manufacturer is admitting now. If you study the fine print of its latest training manual and training waiver it is proof positive - for the first time, from the manufacturer itself - that the devices are deadly.

This low-key admission is a far cry from the early promotional material, where the manufacturer claimed their devices were "safe to use on any attacker". After listening to a lengthy list of experts, Braidwood determined there are life-threatening risks to vulnerable populations like seniors, children, pregnant women, as well as obese, underweight, distraught, drugged or mentally ill citizens. That would leave whom to zap? Healthy men between 15 and 55? A tally based on media reports can be found here on Truth-Not-Tasers, which now puts the death toll surrounding CEW use at 684 victims. If this was a car part or a prescription drug rather than a "police tool", imagine the outcry.

One question the media and governments need to begin asking is: How many police agencies have use of force guidelines that are out-of-date? The manufacturer says users should avoid head, neck, chest and genital shots, not to mention repeated and prolonged stuns. Wouldn't this make the weapon tactically useless in dart/probe mode? How do you shoot a moving target in the legs with darts, especially from a distance? This should make it more of a ‘close quarters’ weapon, shouldn’t it? And, although shots to the back are now deemed ideal by Taser, the optics of shooting someone from behind suggests the police are cowardly or under-handed. An adversary who has his back to you isn’t dangerous, is he?

Police are struggling with a troubled and troubling technology, which they are recognizing now to be unreliable or, worse, becoming factors in fatal encounters. Yet police are loath to give Tasers up OR admit they made a mistake by deploying them in the first place. There are a few forces giving up their Tasers, like in Southwest Ohio, where officers are using a different device called the Trident. If you check, you'll find that in the beginning, NO Police or Government Agency in either Canada or the U.S. ever verified the manufacturer's safety claims with independent testing; since then, measurement has been done for police in Canada, using resistance values suggested by the manufacturer.

Also, the Underwriters Lab, Canadian Standards Association and the International Electrotechnical Commission never tested Tasers. Nor have these safety standard bodies certified the devices to ensure their relative safety. Electrical products are not to be sold or used in Canada without proper certification. And yet, the police continue to use them in defiance of the Canadian Electrical Safety Standards Act. The UL, CSA and IEC have not measured Tasers for another reason: because they are INVASIVE.

The international safety standard (called the IEC 479), measures shocks ON the body, where skin resistance offers some protection from shocks. BUT there is NO electrical safety standard for shocks IN the body, where resistance is non-existent and where salts, fluids and nerves allow for easier conductivity. National standards are being developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the IEC, in hopes of creating a fairer, more rigorous test protocol, based on strong, independent science.

In the past decade, the characterization of CEWs went from 'NON lethal' to 'LESS lethal', once deaths began to occur; now, 'lethal' is being admitted by Braidwood, the U.S. Courts (in the Heston and Turner wrongful death suits) and even the manufacturer. Lethal?! Has human physiology changed in ten years? Did the technology alter significantly? It would seem the only visible difference is the company's opinion of its own products - and how to use them. That should tell us all we need to know about what’s really happened - safety claims were made that are proving to be tragically exaggerated or false.

It is hard to fathom how such a blunder could happen, but it appears police and politicians were not told the whole truth about the inherent risks. That is the nature of the $10-million judgment awarded to the Turner family in Charlotte, North Carolina in July. The jury believed Taser International failed to warn its customers for nearly four years, after it learned its devices do indeed cause cardiac arrest. Was science ignored? Was proper testing averted so a company could corner the market in the burgeoning 'non-lethal' field? Did the makers do enough science needed to ensure the relative safety of these new, higher-powered 26-Watt weapons? Some will argue the marketing was premature and the public were used as guinea pigs.

The manufacturer's only pre-deployment science was shocking one pig in 1996 to develop the wave-form and then zapping five dogs in 1999. The raw data is 'missing' and the results were never published so you can forget any third-party peer-review science. Even more disturbing is that these skimpy experiments were done using the 5-watt system, not the 26-watt system police ended up buying.

The integrity of the evaluation process for new technology was compromised in the U.S. a decade ago. No one verified Taser's medical and safety claims. How could the joint non-lethal taskforce and the national institute of justice (NIJ) fail so fundamentally in their duties? Why should anyone believe anything these same people say now in terms of what should be done to fix this problem? Perhaps a true third party with no vested interest - like a university - should be put in charge of proper measurement of all CEWs, based on the IEC-479 standard.

The time has come for true civil servants, unbiased scientists and medical experts AND the media to get the truth out there, before more lives are lost.

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taser-Related Deaths = 1043+ in North America

See "A LIST OF THE DEAD"According to Taser International, the taser had nothing to do with any of these deaths. According to a Reuters investigation, Shock Tactics - Part 1 - The Toll, published on August 22, 2017, more than 150 autopsy reports have cited tasers as the cause or contributor to deaths across the U.S. That number may be higher; however medical examiners and coroners are often not impartial but are instead biased in favour of the Crown or, as has been shown, they are under tremendous pressure from - among others - Taser International, to make a particular finding.See Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions

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Taser International finally admits risk that their weapons may affect the human heart

RCMP - TASERS POTENTIALLY LETHAL

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My Brother - Robert Bagnell June 27, 1959 - June 23, 2004

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2) Until such time as independent and unbiased study into the "real world" safety implications of Tasers has been properly completed, a moratorium must be imposed upon these weapons.

3) If, after independent and unbiased study has been completed, the Taser is going to remain in the police arsenal, it must be placed at a level equal to lethal force on the continuum of force and used only as a second-to-last resort.

4) Safety standards must be developed for Tasers. There are currently no Canadian safety standards in place for this weapon.

5) Police must not be allowed to investigate themselves but must be subject to independent and unbiased civilian oversight.

6) Families of people who die in police custody in Canada must be provided with funding so that they may be properly represented by legal counsel.

07. Robert Bagnell, 44 – Vancouver, BC - June 23, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Consistent with restraint-associated cardiac arrest due to acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis. Bob's autopsy report showed marks on his body consistent to multiple taser shots, which incidently could not be affirmed by the pathologist because she could not explain those marks.

09. Samuel Truscott, 43 – Kingston, ON - August 8, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Heart attack cause by drug overdose and "I can state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death" said Chief Coroner for Ontario, Jim Cairns

24. Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, MB - July 22, 2008 - tasered 1 time - the autopsy report says Langan's death was caused by a heart arrhythmia brought on by the Taser shocks

25. Sean Reilly, 42 - Brampton, ON - September 17, 2008 - Peel Regional Police - X26 - tasered 2 times - the inquest jury will determine the official cause of death, however, “the forensic evidence indicated that the force used by the officers, including the Taser discharge, did not contribute to his death"

27. Trevor Grimolfson, 38 - Edmonton, AB - October 29, 2008, X26 - According to sources, after he was pepper sprayed, Trevor was tasered directly on the chest 5 times and tasered on the back of the neck 2 more times - Edmonton police said he was only tasered 2 times but testing on the tasers proves otherwise - "Official" cause of death: excited delirium brought on by drugs

29. Grant William Prentice, 40 - Brooks, AB - May 6, 2009 - RCMP - tasered 2 times - "Official" cause of death: acute cocaine toxicity and "the medical examiner also concluded the taser did not play a role in the death"

Ain't it the truth!

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80% percent of the population could be moved in either direction

Human rights activist Susan Sontag, when asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.

THE Successes AREN'T the Problem

"The issue is not whether or not the taser can be used in a high percentage of cases to reduce death and/or physical trauma to officers and civilians alike. The issue is whether or not it's OK to kill the rest through ignorance and rationalization just because it's a small percentage ... The successes aren't the problem - the failures are. They're being told that tasers are nonlethal, so they blast away until people can't move. They're killing people by accident." Dave Siegler, father of Raymond Siegler, who died on February 12, 2004

The artistic side of Robert Bagnell

WE KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE

ROBERT ANGLEN

Robert Anglen, a reporter with The Arizona Republic, documented the first 167 Taser-related deaths. Mr. Anglen launched a journalistic investigation of Taser International, linking the Taser to multiple deaths, among other eye-openers.

At the 2005 Arizona Press Club Awards, Mr. Anglen won first place in the Investigative reporting category. He was the recipient of the Don Bolles Award for his report entitled "Taser tied to 'independent' study that backs stun gun'. “As part of an extraordinarily thorough investigation of Taser International, Anglen uncovered ‘smoking gun’ documents that showed the manufacturer was heavily involved in the key study that purported the devices are safe. Anglen also uncovered conflicts of interest and documented wide-spread problems with Taser safety — a matter of national and international public interest.”

In 2006, Mr. Anglen was a runner up for the Arizona Press Club's Virg Hill Journalist of the Year award. Peter Bhatia of The Oregonian wrote “Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter, pure and simple. Clearly, he is a reporter who, once he sinks his teeth into something, stays with it until the story is done. His ongoing work around the company that makes Tasers speaks to that."